A New Place
by dobegirl15
Summary: Cory and Topanga are beginning to feel a bit crowded in their apartment in New York and realize some changes have to be made. One shot. CORPANGA!
**It's only been a week since the last Girl Meets World episode, and it's already happening…that's right….Corpanga withdrawal. So I guess that sparked this one shot. I hope you enjoy!**

"Where is my briefcase?" Topanga yelled, running around the apartment, looking underneath and behind pillows, blankets, toys, and boxes.

"I'm looking, Topanga!" Cory yelled back from the hallway.

"I'm going to be late!"

"Here!" she heard.

She turned and ran back into the hallway, meeting her husband halfway to grab her briefcase.

"Thank you," she said, giving him a peck on the cheek before turning and running to the door.

"Love you," Cory called, watching her run across the small living room.

"Love you! Love you, Riley!" she exclaimed, opening the door and letting it slam behind her.

"Love you, Mommy!" Cory heard. He smiled at the sound of his daughter's voice.

Riley came out of her room and stood by Cory. She looked up at him.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked her.

She nodded.

"Okay, let's go," he said, picking her up and walking out to the living room. He grabbed his bag and keys and walked out of the apartment, locking the door behind him.

xxxXXXxxx

That night after dinner, the Matthews family was cuddled up on the couch, enjoying an episode of American Idol. Cory sat with his arm around Topanga and Riley on his lap. Topanga leaned her head on his chest and laid back, feeling close to falling asleep after her long day. Riley, similarly tired after a long day in preschool, laid against her father's chest, her eyes beginning to close.

Once the episode was over, Cory looked down to see both Topanga and Riley fast asleep. He smiled adoringly at them and then slowly started to get up. He turned Riley around so he could carry her and she wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned her head on his shoulder. She sighed in exhaustion. Cory slowly laid his wife down on the couch, but her eyes opened and she looked up at him.

"Oh, I'm sorry I fell asleep," she said, beginning to sit up.

"No, it's fine. I know you've had a long day."

She nodded, rubbing her eyes and stifling a yawn.

He turned around to take Riley to her room, but she grabbed his hand. "Hey, I can take her. I miss putting her down for bed. I'm usually asleep," she said, scowling at herself.

"Are you sure? I already have her," he said.

She nodded, standing up. "Yeah. I miss her," she said, smiling at her daughter's peaceful face.

"Alright," he said, handing their daughter to her.

Topanga held her and leaned her head against her. Her bottom lip stuck out as she thought how cute Riley was.

He smiled and shook his head at his wife.

She walked past him and went into the hallway to Riley's room. He turned and sat down on the couch, waiting for Topanga to come back.

All of a sudden, he heard, "Oh!" and then a thump on the ground.

Cory jumped up and ran to Riley's room to find Topanga kneeling on the ground, still holding Riley. He sighed with relief to see them both still intact.

"Are you guys okay?!" he asked.

"Yeah," she said. "I tripped on the crib box again," she sighed.

"Mommy?" Riley said, looking up at her parents.

"Here," he said, reaching for Riley. She was now wide awake, looking around. He put her in her bed and put the blanket over her legs.

"Everything's fine, Riley. Go to sleep. Good night. Love you," he said, kissing her forehead.

"Love you, Daddy. Love you, Mommy," three-year old Riley said.

Cory held his hand out to Topanga to help her up. She smiled at him graciously and took his hand, standing up.

"I love you too, Riley," Topanga said. She mirrored her husband, leaning down to kiss Riley's forehead. "Good night, sweetheart."

"Good night," Riley replied, already drifting off to sleep.

Topanga walked out of the room, being careful not to trip this time, and Cory followed behind her.

"We have to find a new place to put that box," Cory said once they got to the living room.

"Yeah, that's like the third time I've tripped over it. But we don't have any place to put it, Cory. That's all there is."

"There has to be _somewhere_ we could put it besides there," he said, sitting on the couch.

"Oh yeah?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. "Where?"

He looked around, seeing boxes stacked in nearly every corner.

"How did we get so much stuff?" he asked.

"It's not really that much stuff, Cory." She pointed to one corner. "That's all of Riley's old toys and clothes that she can't use anymore." She pointed to the next corner. "That's all the books we couldn't sell after college." The closet across the room. "And that is completely full with every single thing we tried to take with us after we moved out of Philadelphia."

"Can't we get rid of anything?"

"Well we tried to get rid of the books- no such luck. And we can't get rid of our childhood memories, Cory. That's the kind of stuff we keep 'til we're old, so we can reminisce. And I don't want to get rid of our baby stuff. Who knows? We might need it again some day," she said with a small smile.

He narrowed his eyes and slowly turned his head to look at her.

She rolled her eyes and sighed, "I'm not pregnant, Cory. I just mean that eventually we might have another baby, and we don't need to buy all new stuff if we still have all this."

"Don't scare me like that," he said, pointing his finger at her.

"What, don't you want another baby?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Sure, eventually, but right now we have no room and no time…so a baby would not be ideal at the moment."

"That's fair. But I don't want it to be like that," she said.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Riley came as a bit of a surprise, and I don't want to be unprepared if that happens again. I don't want us to react like that. I want us to be able to know that we can take care of another baby if we had one."

"Well what do you want to do, Topanga?"

"I don't know. I just know that I don't want to be so cramped in a tiny apartment with so much stuff."

"But we can't get rid of our stuff. Are you saying you want to move?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Maybe. I think that might be good for us, you know?"

He scoffed and said, "Topanga, I don't think moving is a good idea at _all_. We just need to get rid of some stuff is all. Maybe we can rent some storage thing. Moving just causes stress and we don't need any more of that in our lives."

She gave him a look. "Cory, you can't honestly tell me that you'd be okay if we lived here for the rest of our lives."

He shrugged and said, "Well, I think it's very comfortable and I like the neighborhood."

"You like the neighborhood," she repeated, deadpan.

He nodded. "Yeah. It's a good neighborhood."

"Okay, you're just making stuff up."

"No, I like living here, Topanga. Like I said, it's comfortable."

"Yeah, _too_ comfortable," she said. "Look around you, Cory. We are packed in here so tight. There's no room for us to grow."

As she said that, Cory remembered the last lesson he learned from Mr. Feeny. About how if you stay in a comfortable place, you will do well. But that may be detrimental to your ability to grow.

He looked at his wife for a second.

"What?" she asked, confused at his facial expression.

"Nothing. It's just…well, you're right. You reminded me of something Mr. Feeny said."

She nodded, feeling proud. "Wow. I said something that reminded you of Mr. Feeny. What did he say?"

"He said that sometimes you need to give yourself room to grow. You'd do fine right where you are, but sometimes you just have to move on to greater things."

She nodded. "He was right."

He waved the comment away. "Eh, what's new? He's always right."

She laughed and said, "So what does this mean? Are we moving?"

"Well after that story I just told you about Mr. Feeny's lesson, I think it'd make me look kinda bad if I said no, so…I guess we're moving."

She smiled at him. "Thank you, Cory. I'm glad you understand how important this is."

"Yeah, well, I know you're right. This place is too crowded now. It was good for us when we came, but we outgrew it. We have a daughter now. And, if we ever did have another baby, I want to be as ready as we can, too."

She nodded and smiled.

"So where are we moving to?" he asked.

"Well, we can't leave New York City. I still have that deal for law school."

"Good," Cory said. "We can just take it a step at a time. A bigger house for now. That's a big enough step to take."

"Yes. I'm proud of you, honey. I honestly didn't think you'd be so okay with this."

"Hey, I can deal with change. I've got you," he said, smiling at her.

She smiled back. "So on that subject of change…how will we know when we're…ready for another baby?"

"Okay, Topanga, I swear, if this was some test and there's really a baby, just tell me, because I can't-"

"Cory, there's no baby! I just wanted to know when we could see us having another baby. We've talked about this before, Cory, and I know you want more than one."

"Yeah, I do, but I don't know."

"I think for me it's after I'm finally done with school and everything."

He nodded. "I think so too. Once we finally have two good-paying jobs."

"And that new house," she added.

"Yeah. And that new house."

"We should probably move soon, though, don't you think?" she asked.

"Why?"

"Well, Riley's going to be starting school in less than two years. And we don't want to move after she starts school. So maybe we should start looking."

"That's two years away, though, Topanga. We have time," Cory said.

"Think about how fast two years has flown with Riley. Sometimes it still feels like we just brought her home. Don't you think so?"

He nodded.

"So we need to get going on this. Are you okay with it? Will you be alright?"

"I already told you, yes," he said. "Because I know that I will freak out, but I also know that I have you right here to bring me back. So I guess this is my warning to you- I will freak out."

"I know that," she said, nodding knowingly.

"But you'll help me get back to normal."

She nodded again. "I always try, at least."

He smiled at her, amused. "Are you ready for things to change again?"

"Yeah. Sometimes change is good. And I'm looking forward to what it brings with this move. Some good things will happen there. I'm excited to see what they are."

"Me too," he said, still smiling.

"But I'm glad some things don't ever change." She leaned forward and kissed him.

"Yeah. I'm glad for that too. A new place, but the same us. I think we'll be okay."

She nodded and smiled. "I know we will."

 **I love Corpanga. AHH! I hope you enjoyed the story! Please leave a review! I appreciate them so very much. Thank you!**

 **Stay awesome!**


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